England 3 Israel 0: Wright-Phillips sparkles for England but real test to come

Now for the hard part. Guus Hiddink's Russia will arrive in London on Wednesday still a point ahead of England, who cannot contemplate a game anything like as easy as yesterday's stroll. Steve McClaren believes there are many twists and turns to come in Group E but the feeling is that qualifying with Croatia – who beat Estonia last night – will still come down to taking four points from two outings against the Russians. At least there was encouragement to be taken into the first of those games from a much more cohesive performance, allowing for the unexpectedly feeble opposition.

McClaren may have stuck his neck out in sticking with Paul Robinson in goal and recalling Emile Heskey, but as it turned out he could have fielded David James, Gordon Banks or Brian Barwick between the posts without anxiety. Israel's record of only one defeat in 18 previous qualification matches over the past two tournaments – a 4-3 defeat by Croatia – was made to look inexplicable as they struggled to contain some lively English attacking and made no headway whatever themselves, still using only one striker 40 minutes after falling behind.

England had identified full-back as a particular weakness, and having worked in training on putting in good crosses, they benefited from the Chelsea pair Shaun Wright-Phillips and Joe Cole doing just that.

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Micah Richards and Ashley Cole happily joined in down the flanks and the service to the two English strikers was pleasingly more varied than simply lumping the ball forward to a hard-working Heskey, who may well keep his place on Wednesday.

Michael Owen, enjoying having a strong physical presence alongside him, still looked short of sharpness, but managed to rebuke his most insistent critics with an outstanding goal. Steven Gerrard drove the side forward in characteristic fashion, playing some astute passes, and was well supported by Gareth Barry, whose last competitive start was so long ago that Howard Wilkinson was England's manager.

"No excuses" had been McClaren's mantra all week, which involved playing down the absence of Gary Neville, David Beckham, Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney, Peter Crouch and then Owen Hargreaves, who failed a fitness test on his thigh yesterday but may be ready for the Russians. The theme last night was of a job well done, which now needs to be repeated. "It's about Wednesday now," McClaren said. "It's a good performance and good result but we have to follow it. It's going to be much tougher than that."

After all the criticism the head coach has taken, he could not resist one little piece of bravado: "I'm sure the Russians will watch the video of our game and won't relish the prospect of coming to Wembley." England will hope that line – like Hiddink – does not come back to haunt them.

Liverpool's Yossi Benayoun, the Israeli captain, was unapologetic in stressing that their aim for the first 20 minutes at least was simply to take the sting out of the game, subduing the home support if possible while encouraging their own blue-and-white legions occupying two sections of the lower tier. But just as the visitors were congratulating themselves on having survived that opening period, albeit not without a scare or two, England scored an excellent goal.

Gerrard began the move with a smart pass to the overlapping Ashley Cole, who instantly fed his namesake Joe for a cross beyond the furthest defender that Wright-Phillips, just onside, met with a side-footed volley – a goal from the Chelsea training ground to delight Jose Mourinho as much as McClaren, who greeted it almost matter-of-factly. He would probably not have been unhappy with what had preceded it, except for two pieces of wasteful finishing by Heskey.

Having won his first header of the match in promising fashion, and several afterwards, the Wigan man let himself down by shooting wildly over the bar when set up 10 yards out by Owen. Then, just before the goal, Heskey met Gerrard's corner at the far post but headed wide. Eight minutes from the interval Wright-Phillips found Joe Cole for a lovely lay-off that Owen wasted, hitting the goalkeeper Dudu Aouate in the face and putting the rebound well wide.

Israel's Barak Itzhaki, theoretically a striker, had been working without support and was replaced at the interval by the young Toto Tamuz, but by the time another attacker was sent on in Omer Golan, the game was effectively lost. Barry, fed by Richards, gave Owen an acceptable if routine pass with his back to goal, whereupon the little striker flipped the ball up for himself and half-volleyed his 38th goal in 84 internationals.

Israel could have no complaints about that, or a three-goal margin that materialised in the 66th minute, though they disputed the manner of it. Aouate tried to come for Gerrard's corner but ran into Owen, who was under no obligation to move, allowing the powerful Richards to head his first England goal. The goalkeeper, who had just saved well as Gerrard set up Joe Cole with another fine pass, was booked for the strength of his protests and Benayoun had a long discussion with the referee, whom the Israeli coach later accused of making an "unworthy" comment to his captain.

It was time for McClaren to relax and make changes. Gerrard might have been left on a little too long, cramping up before making way for Phil Neville.

Heskey, who had refused to be fazed by his missed chances and done some good work, departed to cheers, allowing Andy Johnson a run-out for the last 20 minutes, in which he sent Owen through and round the goalkeeper, to be denied by a goalline clearance. Blackburn's David Bentley was then given a first senior appearance, to a volley of boos from fans who have not forgiven him for refusing to play in the European Under-21 Championship in June. It was the only sour note of England's day.